Academy of Art's Grace Southern earned conference and national notice after a winning effort at the Cougar Challenge, topping all comers in a talented field. Meanwhile, also at San Marcos, Point Loma surprised 15 other squads in winning the team race, led by Maddie Reeves' second place finish behind Southern. 

2024 Results/Schedule
2024 USTFCCCA National Poll
 
RUNNER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art's Grace Southern, Sr., Middleton, Calif.                                                
For the second time in 2024, Academy of Art's Grace Southern is the PacWest Runner of the Week. Two weeks ago, she earned the award by finishing fourth at Stanislaus State's meet. This time, the senior did so by winning the Cougar Challenge at CS San Marcos in a time of 21:07 on the 6K campus course. She topped 157 runners in the competitive race, running the second fastest time of her career. She led the entire race and eventually held off Point Loma's Maddie Reeves by two seconds. It was the first win for Southern as an Urban Knight, and her effort was enough to also earn her the USTFCCCA National Division II Runner of the Week award. It's Southern's fourth PacWest Runner of the Week award in two season, and it's ART U's 16th Runner of the Week award, the most in PacWest women's cross country history. 

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Point Loma Sea Lions                                                                                                              
Point Loma finished 25 points ahead of host CS San Marcos and in front of the entire field of 16 teams last Saturday at the Cougar Challenge. The Sea Lions had three runners in the top six of a talented field to lead the way to 65 team points, with CS Marcos next with 90. The field included a half dozen CCAA teams, a few D-I schools, NAIA and junior college squads. Maddie Reeves led the way for PLNU with a sizzling time of 21:09, tying the 6K Sea Lion record and just two seconds behind winner and national runner of the week Grace Southern of ART U. Zaila Smith crossed the line fifth (21:28) and Elizabeth Satterlee was sixth (21:30). Mia Rodriguez was 23rd (22:24) and Aubree Gentry was 29th (22:34) to round out the Sea Lion scoring. The team win was the first for Point Loma since 2018, when they won the PacWest Championship. 
 
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: At the Cougar Challenge in San Marcos, Academy of Art finished 12th, Concordia was 14th and Hawai`i Pacific was 15th. ART U's Lina Hanich was the top runner in that group with an impressive 14th place finish in 22:11...In last week's USTFCCCA West Region rankings, Western Washington was No. 1, No. 2 Chico State, No. 3 Biola, No. 4 Alaska, and No. 5 was Stanislaus State. The Eagles were also listed No. 16 nationally.  

LOOKING AHEAD: It's another lighter week for PacWest cross country teams, with four teams competing at two different races. Fresno Pacific and Westmont will run at The Master's Invitational in Santa Clarita, while Hawai`i Pacific and Chaminade will compete with host Hawai`i Hilo at the Hawai`i Hilo Invitational....Looming is the Pacific West Conference Championships on October 26, to be held for the first time at the OC Great Park in Irvine.